“The fleeing party have reached the river and taken refuge behind the protecting bank—yes, their shots speak now. One, two, three of the painted devils reel from their ponies. More fall! Half of them are down! On come the rest, swinging their hatchets! They are at the bank! They fight hand to hand with their tomahawks. Great Scott! There he is struck, he is down!—the white man is hurt!—he topples over and falls backward down the bank!—he sinks into the river and disappears!�
A shriek from Lissa interrupted the further description of the scene. Nathan sprang to her side, and in the confusion that followed the Professor seemed to lose sight of his vision, nor could he be persuaded to again enter the clairvoyant state.
Poor Lissa was greatly excited. The man had so accurately described her brother-in-law, then living in Nebraska, and knowing as she did that he was in command of a party of Pawnee scouts she could not free herself from the idea that the scene depicted was a true one, notwithstanding her former scepticism.
CHAPTER V
THE LETTER
“What would you give me for a letter from Nebraska,� said Donald a few days after the Professor’s visit, as he flung himself from his horse and sat down on the steps of the veranda where Lissa sat, with her lap full of flowers which she had been gathering.
“O Donald, give it to me quick! I can’t wait a minute,� she cried, espying the gleam of white sticking from the pocket of his coat.
“But tell me first, before you read it, whether you have any faith in Professor Russell’s vision,� he said, teasing.
“Yes, no; I don’t know. I can tell better after I have read Alice’s letter.�
“Of course, but that will not demonstrate your faith. However, I’ll be good and let you have it.� And Donald placed the coveted missive in her hand.
With the remembrance of the vision before her, Lissa’s fingers trembled as she tore open the envelope. The letter would confirm or refute the truth of the Professor’s clairvoyance. And although she would not admit for a moment even to herself that she believed in any spirit agency, she understood so little of clairvoyancy as to believe it connected with supernatural phenomena.